First Published September 11th 2010 by Constance 

In the words of my favorite overdosed blues rocker, Janis Joplin, “Tomorrow man, there ain’t no tomorrow…it’s just all one day…ya know man” then she slurred her way into the epic “Try” and into my personal herstory books.

My “one long day” is rising and setting on the western coast of Portugal.  With three pieces of luggage weighing 70 pounds each, a laptop and my Euros, my passport and fiscal number, my one way ticket in hand, I boarded the one plane a day into Lisbon.  “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose”, an inspirational earworm singing in my head, thanks Janis and of course Kris.

Now here I am, north of Lisbon, in a tiny village on the Atlantic.  The only U.S. citizen around as far as I can tell. OK by me!  After a month of taking all this in, this is what I have learned and am sharing in case you are thinking of selling everything and fleeing to a new land: 

First Published March 16th 2011 by Constance 

Skype, e-mails, face book, Oovoo, even my little stories help me stay connected to my beloveds back across the big salty swimming pool, we see each other and chat away depending on how the server is behaving. For instance, I know tonight in my ex-littlehometown will be the eight year anniversary protest against the war. At 9pm Portugal time they will be holding their signs on “Peace Corner”. I can picture it in my mind and raise a toast at 10:15pm, about when the protest is over and it’s cocktail time.

First Published December 27th 2010 by Constance

Holidays mean food. I know there are religious, political and other cultural reasons, but it all comes down to food really. So we HAD to celebrate the first Christmas in Portugal as Portuguese as we could. And that means Bacalhau, salted cod. Or as we now call it, Bad-calhau.

Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá, is a codfish, potato and onion casserole with eggs and black olives sprinkled on top, loaded with garlic and olive oil.  Very traditional according to our well googled recipe:

“One of the most famous Portuguese bacalhau recipes.  …invented by a cook…whose father was a bacalhau trader himself  …worked in a restaurant in Porto.  His innovation was to marinate the cod flakes in warm milk in order to give the fish a softer texture.”

First Published November 29th 2010 by Constance 

Europe’s antique streets look even more romantic and inviting on a crisp cool evening when the town swithes on the Christmas lights. Chestnuts roasting, cobblestones and walking arm in arm under sparking lights.

The holidays have begun and I am obviously in a very different world than I left. 

A bout of homesickness hit on Thanksgiving, my number one favorite holiday. I love the smell of roasting turkey as the freezing Rockettes high kick in precision in front of Macy’s between the Snoopy balloon and the McDonalds All American Marching Band. I longed to get my hands into the traditional family stuffing recipe and fill that big organic bird with yummy-ness, set the table and have the collection of mis-matched chairs with the odd collection of family and friends that always end up in my home on the fourth Thursday in November.